"A Crocodile Who Dies in 100 Days" was actually content manufactured by Dentsu. The crocodile wasn't a massive piece of content that grew organically while everyone was watching; it was a stealth marketing campaign intentionally created by Dentsu to make money. As proof, a Dentsu producer was explicitly involved, and merchandise was registered for sale starting from day one. Furthermore, there was such a massive amount of merchandise being sold that it would have been impossible to get the project approved in just 100 days (three months). It is obvious that they had been moving forward with stealth marketing years in advance.
Regardless of whether the work itself is good or bad, having something like this happen totally kills the mood. Don't these people know words like "mourning" or "wabi-sabi"? Jumping straight into making money the moment it dies is peak tastelessness.
What are you on about? It's just a fictional character.
Did the director of "100 Crocs" leak the truth? It turns out the "movie adaptation" was already in progress during the serialization... "Looks like the whole thing's out now."
On June 20, an online prayer event for the success of the animated film "The Crocodile That Lived for 100 Days" was streamed on LINE LIVE. During the event, Director Shinichiro Ueda talked about the project, and his comments have caused a stir online. "The Crocodile That Lived for 100 Days" is an anime film based on the four-panel manga "A Crocodile Who Dies in 100 Days," which was originally posted by manga artist Yuki Kikuchi on his personal Twitter account. Although it was framed as a personal project by Kikuchi, it was commercialized the exact moment the final chapter dropped, leading to a massive backlash.
During the event, Director Ueda confessed that he found out about "A Crocodile Who Dies in 100 Days" around the second day of its serialization. He started reading it after it was shared in his company's group chat line, and submitted a pitch around the 30th day. Wait a minute...? Even though Yuki Kikuchi had denied it...
Ueda's remarks strongly suggested that the movie adaptation had been in progress from a very early stage, prompting a flurry of online comments: "The author made all those excuses, but one word from Ueda just blew the whole thing wide open." "It's hilarious because it basically confirms it was a Dentsu project." "To become a hot topic on day two... sounds like someone was pulling the strings, huh? (Sarcasm)" "Making everyone think they're friends while slowly hanging the original creator out to dry." "Is this really okay when the official stance has consistently denied it was a setup?" "Dentsu is going to be pissed: 'Why are you spilling secrets the author tried to hide?!'" "Is this really fine after all those stealth-marketing manga artists went out of their way to defend it?" "It feels like everywhere you look, terrible behind-the-scenes stories keep popping up."
Back in March 2020, during a live stream on Twitter, Kikuchi denied any involvement with Japan's largest advertising agency, Dentsu. He also insisted that the sudden commercial rollout wasn't a project that had been in motion for months. Since this completely contradicts the comments Ueda just dropped, fans must be thoroughly confused.
Controversy seems to follow "A Crocodile Who Dies in 100 Days" no matter what new moves it makes. Setting aside the movie and how the project came to be, the one thing it certainly excels at is generating buzz.
I followed it in real-time because I was curious, but my only lasting impression is that it ended without any real excitement. On the day it ended, I found myself wondering why I had even bothered following it in the first place.
Comments (-)